Home
For the town of the same name, see Home. After a deformed baby's body is found buried in a baseball field, Mulder and Scully investigate a family suspected of inbreeding. Summary , Sherman Peacock, and George Peacock burying their child]]A woman, later identified as Mrs. Peacock, gives birth to a child only to have her three sons disposing the baby and burying it at the baseball field during a storm. When they arrive at the scene, Scully is already taking notes and Mulder is sniffing a baseball that the children left at the scene. 's newest born child buried.]] After Scully comments, he then jokes how he might go into "catatonic schizophrenia" without his cell phone. He informs her that it is a town like this he would like to settle down in, if not for his job. While talking to the town Sheriff, Andy Taylor, Mulder asks whether or not the house nearest to the scene - the Peacock house - had been questioned about the baby. Taylor tells them that "the house had been built in the civil war and still does not have electricity, running water or heating". He also insinuates that the family members have been inbreeding since the war, stating they "raise and breed their own stock... if you get what I mean." All the while, the Peacock family watches from their porch. Inspecting the corpse, Scully comments to Mulder that "it looks as if this child has been affected by every rare birth defect known to science." They soon discover that the baby suffocated by inhaling dirt, indicating it was buried alive. house. ]] Following the brief autopsy, Mulder and Scully talk outside the Police Station. Scully seems distressed by the abandonment of this child and over the defects presented. They sit down on a bench and Mulder flirts with her, suggesting that she find a man with a spotless genetic make-up and a high tolerance for being second guessed to pump out "über-Scullys". She inquires about about his family, and Mulder claims that other than the need for corrective lenses and alien abductions, the Mulder family passes "genetic muster". Mulder suspects this case is nothing more than kids disposing of an unwanted birth. Scully believes the child is not a result of a freak accident in mating and must have been inbred as Sheriff Taylor suggested. This is seemingly impossible, however, since the Peacocks are known to be an all-male household. Suspecting the birth mother may be a kidnapped women, the duo proceed to the Peacock residence where they knock on the door. Mulder is about to go in but Scully exclaims that they have no probable cause. After looking inside with a flash light, they proceed within, weapons drawn. They discover bloody boot prints, which match the ones found at the crime scene, and a mud-encrusted shovel. They leave after gathering some evidence, not realizing that someone is observing them from the shadows. Later that night, Sheriff Taylor calls Scully to inform her that he has put out warrants for the arrest of the Peacock brothers. Taylor then opens a locked box and pulls out his service revolver, which seems to have not been used in a while. Scully gathers her things while Mulder fiddles around with the T.V. antenna. He tells her to hold still, joking that she's improving the reception. Scully asks, "Still planning on making a home here?" He replies, "Nah, don't think I can get the Knick's game." She then comments on the infanticide, hoping that does not play into his decision, and says good night. Mulder replies, "Good night, Mom," and as she reaches for the door knob she discovers the lock is broken. Mulder comments, "Maybe you don't have to lock your doors around here." He puts a chair against the knob. flows to Barbara Taylor as she hides under the bed.]] The Peacocks are setting out in their car, and the Sheriff seems apprehensive on his porch back at his home. His wife consoles him and they go to bed, leaving their front door unlocked. The Peacocks arrive with Johnny Mathis' "Wonderful, Wonderful" blasting, waking the already spooked Sheriff, who tells his wife to hide under the bed. Unable to reach his revolver in time, he arms himself with a baseball bat and hides in his room but is caught off guard by the Peacock brothers, armed with homemade bats of their own. They savagely beat the Sheriff and his wife to death before leaving, with Johnny Mathis still turned all the way up. killed by the Peacock brothers.]] The next morning Mulder and Scully arrive at the Sheriff's house to find Deputy Barney Paster a cigarette in shock. He hands them the lab report and tells them the car the Peacocks were driving originally belonged to a woman from Baltimore. Looking at the corpses, Mulder comments that the Sheriff's chest is "one big hematoma" and the Peacocks "really went 'caveman' on them." Reading the lab results Scully claims that the Federal Crime Lab "screwed up." The results show many of the gene imbalances she had suspected, but to an extent she didn't imagine possible. They also suggest that both parents of the baby were members of the Peacock family, which Scully doesn't understand because no one has seen a female Peacock family member in years. Eager for vengeance, Paster tells Mulder and Scully he will provide back-up to save the supposed missing woman, whom they believe could have given birth to the baby. The FBI agents cannot understand why the Taylors were murdered at all, since no one could have known about the warrants. They suspect someone must have been in the house when they were searching it. The three prepare to assault the Peacock residence. Upon arriving, Deputy Paster puts on a bullet-proof vest. He claims he has seen them fire muskets before, and refuses to be taken out by "some antique". Inside, the brothers are told by a shadowy pair of eyes to maintain the Peacock way of life. The agents begin to flank the property and Paster breaks down the front door, only to be decapitated by a booby-trapped axe-- too late to heed Scully's warning. being discovered by Fox Mulder and Dana Scully]] The brothers descend upon Paster's body and tear it apart. Falling back, Mulder recalls a show he watched the previous night about animals and how they hunt. He states that "The eldest will move in to ensure the prey has been killed. Encircling the prey signals that it's safe to approach." Mulder tells Scully they are witnessing undiluted animal instincts. He proposes that they lure the brothers out of the house by releasing their livestock. Upon entering the house and avoiding a trap, Mulder and Scully encounter the Peacocks' mother. She is in terrible shape, with missing teeth, amputated limbs, and living under the bed on a sled. She screams in terror, and Scully tries to comfort her. The two ladies discuss the accident that killed the Peacock mother's husband and left her without her limbs. The Peacock mother does not hold any resentment towards her children, even when Scully mentions that they have killed two people. She also tells Scully that she knows Scully does not have children, because if she did, she would understand. and Scully fighting against Sherman Peacock and George Peacock.]] The Peacock boys, realizing they've been tricked, rush into the house and attack Mulder and Scully. Sherman and George Peacock fight against Mulder and Scully withstanding several gunshots. In the end of the fight, George was killed by Mulder and Sherman chased Scully until he was killed by setting off a booby trap and is impaled by a large spike. However, while Mulder and Scully were fighting the two Peacock brothers, Edmund, the eldest child, escapes with Mrs. Peacock without any confrontation with either Mulder or Scully. After Mulder and Scully realized that Mrs. Peacock and Edmund escaped, Scully contacted the local sheriff's department and ordered them to make roadblocks and other barricades to stop Edmund and his mother. With Scully believing that they will be caught, Mulder claims that they are already caught in a struggle with themselves. and Edmund Peacock leave to find a new "home".]] On an abandoned road, Mrs. Peacock and Edmund are within the trunk of their car explaining that Sherman and George were good children and that she and her son will have more members of the Peacock family. Mrs. Peacock also told Edmund that they have to move away and find another place outside of Pennsylvania in hope of finding a place were they can call "home." Edmund then climbs out of the trunk and enters the driver's seat and drives away to an unknown destination as "Wonderful, Wonderful" plays on the radio. Background Information *In one scene, Scully mentions the film Babe and imitates a line from the movie. *This episode was banned by FOX due to its graphic nature (the baby murder, the references to incest, and the brutal murders). It has aired in syndication and is on the X-Files season 4 DVD set. *Glen Morgan named the Peacock family after some former neighbors of his parents. *This episode features the song "Wonderful Wonderful" by Johnny Mathis. *Having spent a year away from The X-Files to create their own show Space: Above and Beyond, writers Morgan and Wong return here for the first time since season 2's "Die Hand Die Verletzt." The title of their first episode back may also have a double meaning; aside from being the name of the town featured, it could be their way of saying that they are back "home". *This episode was being shot during the time when FOX and NBC were having a "heated argument" that went on for a long time. They gave the last name "Peacock" to the Peacock family because they are extremely repulsive and the peacock is NBC's logo. Notes This episode marks the first time Samantha Mulder was mentioned in a context other than abduction - at one point, Fox talks about the games he and his sister used to play. Mulder and Scully would have simply called in the State Police and officers from neighboring jurisdictions to assist them in arresting the Peacock boys. The science advisor to the series, Anne Simon Ph.D., points out in her book The Real Science Behind The X-Files that the genetic deformities Scully observes in the dead infant (Neu-Laxova syndrome, Meckel-Gruber syndrome and extrophy of the cloaca) are quite rare, and that she would have had to have been well-versed in genetic abnormalities to have recognized all of these conditions without consulting outside experts. Dr. Simon mentions a standard reference book, Smith's Recognizable Patterns of Human Malformation, '' as something Scully may have had the opportunity to consult before this case, thus familiarizing herself with the information. Scully makes a minor mistake when describing the abnormalities of the Peacock baby. She describes the deformities as dominant, when in reality, they are recessive. If they were dominant disorders, the Peacock parents would have been dead at birth instead of unaffected carriers. This is mentioned briefly in ''The Real Science Behind the X-Files. A scene was cut in which Mulder and Scully jostle each other suggestively in the tight confines of Sheriff Taylor's supply closet/morgue. Goofs The playing of Wonderful Wonderful during the scenes where the sheriff is battered to death is not in any kind of musical timeline. The first line plays as the brothers are leaving the house, then there is a scene with the sheriff looking at his gun and being comforted by his wife, then a shot back to the brothers' car and the second line of the song. Then when the brothers arrive at the sheriff's house, both the sheriff and his wife have got ready for and are in bed, but the song is still only about half way through, and when the brothers get back in their car having killed them, it's still playing. The actual quote in Babe is "Baaah-ram-ewe", not Naah-ram-ewe. All three elements of the magic word are related to sheep. During Mulder and Scully's first conversation with Sheriff Taylor at the infant-burial site, the exact same reaction shot of Scully is used twice: she makes a facial expression, looks down and to her right, and some strands of her hair blow across the top of her head. In the teaser the Peacock mother is giving birth and is screaming in obvious pain, but we are later told that the family shares a genetic disorder caused by their inbreeding (among others) which prevents them from feeling pain. Allusion Sheriff Andy Taylor and Deputy Barney Paster are clear references to The Andy Griffith Show, where Sheriff Andy Taylor and his Deputy Barney Fife watch over a small North Carolina mountain town. Though Deputy Paster wouldn't admit it, they also both resemble their namesakes: both Andies are calm, laid-back and content with their small-town ways, and both Barneys are more nervous and fond of weapons. Links and References Guest Stars *Neil Denis as the Catcher *Cory Frye as the Batter *Adrian Hughes as Sherman Peacock *Karin Konoval as Peacock Mother *Judith Maxie as Barbara Taylor *Lachlan Murdoch as the Right Fielder *Chris Norris as Edmund Peacock *Tucker Smallwood as Sheriff Andy Taylor *Douglas Smith as the Pitcher *Sebastian Spence as Deputy Barney Paster *John Trottier as George Peacock *Kenny James as the Announcer References American Civil War; Babe; Baltimore; Cadillac; Cell phone; Home; Inbreeding; Mayberry; Meckel-Gruber Syndrome; Morgue; Nev-Laxova Syndrome; Peacock family; Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh; Sheriff; Sweetgum Lane; Wonderful, Wonderful Category:X-Files episodes